


Illusion and Dream

by FrecklesAndUndercuts



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Elemental AU, M/M, Strong Language, X-Men AU - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-05
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-14 15:12:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1271113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrecklesAndUndercuts/pseuds/FrecklesAndUndercuts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marco Bodt has been having weird dreams all involving the same boy and some stuff that he only thought was possible in fantasy novels. So when this mysterious boy named Jean shows up at his house and whisks him away to an academy for only those with 'special powers', Marco's life becomes the fantasy novel that he always wished it could be.</p><p>But sometimes, we should be careful what we wish for, as everything and everyone at the academy is not who they seem to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Letter

**Author's Note:**

> I've been having this idea in my head for a really long time and I can't get it out. With the way I have it all planned out, this could be one of the longest fan fictions that I'm going to end up writing. c:
> 
> Also, send me your suggestions as to which elemental power you think each of the characters would have!
> 
> frecklesandundercuts.tumblr.com

Have you ever picked up a fantasy novel or watched a movie and wished that it were real? That magic and dragons existed; that you could have special powers; that you, no matter how insignificant you thought you were to the world, were somehow chosen for something much bigger than you could ever have imagined?

Well, don’t. Because let me tell you, I was once in your shoes, trapped in this fantasy world of mine and wishing for something more exciting because reality was boring. What I got was something far more dangerous and if I told anyone this story, they'd probably think I was making it up.

But before I get too ahead of myself and spoil everything that is about to come, let me start with an introduction.

Hi, my name is Marco Bodt, and this is the story on how Jean Kirschtein ruined my life.

-x-

Dreams had always both fascinated and terrified me ever since I could remember. If you think about it, dreams are a bit of magic all their own. To think that while you’re asleep, seemingly unconscious, parts of your brain that you never knew existed were on high alert and coming up with the most ridiculous scenarios possible. The sad part is is that most of us forget our dreams within minutes of waking up.

Not me, though.

I remember all of them.

From the one about the cat in the hat showing up at my doorstep and deflating like a balloon down a manhole just from pressing his belly button, to the one where the meatloaf from the college cafeteria came alive and I became a magical girl to fight it off, I remembered them all.

Then mysteriously one day my dreams just stopped which wouldn’t be any cause for alarm, but I dreamt every night so I was slightly concerned. It went on like that for a couple months. During those months, strange things started happening around my house.

Someone would knock on the door and nobody would be there.

The phone would ring, displaying that someone was calling from a pay phone, but nobody was ever on the other line.

And the letters. Letters that looked like they had been singed around the edges with illegible text scrawled across the parchment showed up at my house, each time getting harder and harder to decipher; it wasn’t exactly helpful that there was never any return address.

Then, nearing the end of my freshman year at college, the dreams came back, more vivid and lifelike than they had ever been before. Most of the times that I dreamed, my dreams made no sense, but this one was different. It wasn’t all that weird to be perfectly honest—the only thing that was off was my shadow which wasn’t dark like shadows normally are, but a glowing white. Maybe one of the street lamps that flanked me on either side was having a malfunction. 

Stupid assumption, I know. 

I looked down at myself and noticed I was wearing a gown, like one of those ones that they give to hospital patients so they have easier access to them. It a complete opposite of the flannel PJ’s I had went to bed with, especially comfort wise.

The street was deserted and despite being in the crisp fall twilight, the cobblestones underneath my bare feet were warm to the touch, still baring the heat of the afternoon sun.

I crinkled my toes, closed my eyes, and took in a deep breath. This was my favourite time of the day. Nothing but peace and the soft sound of nature. 

Suddenly, a slight wind picked up and then the only street lamp in sight went out. I froze; a shiver radiated down my spine and goose bumps broke out along the length of my arms as the cold wind nipped at my bare skin. A painful sensation started to form in the center of my chest and I coughed to try and make it go away, but it only made it worse. On the wind, a voice carried itself to my ears.

“Marco,” the sing-song, almost teasing voice called out.

I drew in a breath and took a step forward towards the voice. It was coming from the alley way no more than ten feet away where I stood. Ignoring all my instincts that were screaming at me to go back, I walked towards it and turned down the alley way that the voice had come from and that’s when I saw a figure.

He was dark, and I couldn’t see his face despite the fact that he was standing under another lit street lamp. He was shrouded by shadows, the dark cloak that covered his head and body completely masking his identity.

“Come here, Marco,” his voice echoed along the stone walls, snickering lightly under his breath. He reached out his hand and my body instantly lifted off the ground and gravitated towards him as he curled his finger, pulled by some invisible force. 

If this were real, I would have freaked out, but my subconscious stayed perfectly calm, even when he took me by the waist and pulled me closer. His hands began to roam across my body—caressing my cheek and jawline and examining what little muscles I had in my arms. He almost seemed to be searching for something. His hand finally stopped and hovered above the distinct birthmark that lay just under my collarbone, and his fingertips lightly grazed the protruding bone. It sent a shiver through my body like a jolt of electricity and my body immediately surrendered to his touch. These hands were soft, soothing, and when he stopped, I didn’t want him to.

“Yes, perfect. You’re the one,” he whispered and he glanced up ever so slightly that his light brown eyes flashed off of the dim light. “I’ll be seeing you soon, Marco.” And then he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

-x-

I woke with a jolt the next morning, feeling disoriented and lost. It took me a moment to realize that I had fallen asleep on the couch in my apartment while watching The Evil Dead. 

The last thing I wanted to do was remove myself from the comforts of the couch and go to school this morning, but if I ever wanted to complete my degree and have a real job besides being a librarian’s assistant, I needed to go and take one of my many exams.

I placed the afghan back on its place on the back of the couch and shut off the T.V. Two pizza boxes, a carton of ice cream, and numerous cans of pop littered my living room space, but those would have to wait until I got back from school. If I wanted to be at my first class on time, I would have to leave within the next half an hour.

I printed off the final assignment for today, both my work and the work that I did for my lazy ass group partner, Thomas, then grabbed a towel from the linen closet and made my way to the bathroom, the only place in my apartment that didn’t look like a tornado had run through it.

Turning on the shower, I stripped out of my clothes and folded them onto the counter before stepping into the hot water. The water rained down my skin and caressed it on the way down, taking me back to my dream last night. I never dwelled on my dreams because there were too many of them to keep track of, but there was something about this one that was permanently burned into my memory. It just felt so real.

The scent of nature, the wind, the stranger’s touch… My stomach began to churn in a pleasing way and I smiled at the warm feeling in my core. If there was any highlight to last night, it was that dream.

I probably spent too much time in the shower while thinking about the dream, and by the time I got out, my skin was pruning and I had fogged up the mirror. I dried myself off and used the towel to wipe off the condensation that had gathered on the glass. 

At first I thought it had been my imagination seeing another blur behind my already blurry reflection, but as soon as I could see my reflection clearly, I caught a glimpse of a face before it was gone again. With a small shriek I whipped around and wrapped the towel around my body to conceal myself, but there was no one there.

“No more horror movies for you,” I scolded myself, writing it off nonchalantly and proceeded to work on making myself look presentable for the upcoming school day.

I preferred to get ready naked—it gave me more time to appreciate my body in its natural, naked state, and to be honest I loved it. From my rectangular face and strong jawline to the dimples on my lower back; from my ski-slope nose to the numerous freckles that dusted my face; I loved it all. I believed strongly in the fact of worshipping one’s body like a temple and taking care of it. If there was one thing that I spent my money on, it was skin care products. Shoot me for loving my soft skin and virtually non-existent pores.

I did the normal morning routine, wash, tone, moisturize, then worked on drying and styling my naturally straight, though prone to frizz, dark brown hair. Styling it was always an issue—it always did its own thing and parted down the middle so I gave up on hair paste a long time ago.

When I arrived at school, it was a quarter past eight, which meant there left fifteen minutes for me to find the classroom that the exam was going to take place in and get in some last minute study time. 

Before I began cramming, I ordered a large coffee (one sugar, two cream, no-I-would-not-like-to-add-flavouring-for-75-cents-a-shot-thank-you) from the cafeteria like I did every morning and set off in the direction of the English classrooms.

Finding room 2035 wasn’t all that hard—it was a hop and a skip from my original English classroom, and also the gymnasium. Why they didn’t just call it the gymnasium, I have no idea. There was a pile at the front of the classroom for the final assignments that were to be handed in and I put both my part and my group partner’s part in the space. Heaving a relieved sigh at the thought that I would never have to do another assignment for him again, I took a seat in one of the empty desks, pulling out my lucky pencil and eraser as well as my notes from the final half of the year. I was ready to ace this test and be done with the school year. 

I had no sooner started to skim my eyes across the various literary definitions when a figure popped into my peripheral vision. I glanced over and a tall casually dressed boy with honey brown eyes and a two-toned undercut was standing beside me, a perplexed look on his face.

“Um… Can I help you?” I asked.

“Yeah. Can I sit here?” the boy asked, gesturing to the desk next to me.

I raised my eyebrow quizzically and glanced across the room. I saw my group partner, Thomas, enter the classroom, his long legs fully exposed under his silky soccer or basketball shorts that I didn’t know how he survived in with the winter season setting in. He made eye contact with me and I quickly looked back to the other boy.

“Go right ahead,” I said quickly before Thomas could get a chance to sit beside me. 

“Great!” He took the seat and got comfy in the plastic chair, adjusting himself a few times before he settled on having his legs on top of the desk. “What’cha studying?”

“Um, stuff for the exam that we have in ten minutes? Are you even in this class? I haven’t seen you around here.”

“Oh, sorry, how could I be so rude?” the boy began in an exaggerated voice. “I’m Jean Kirschtein , 3rd year Mechanics major. I’m in the afternoon class of English, probably why you don’t see me around much.”

I blew it off as coincidental how this strange boy’s voice closely resembled the boy from my dream the previous night.

“Oh that’s nice. I’m Marco,” I introduced myself as casually as I could without seeming to be weirded out and returned to my notes once again.

“Marco what? Don’t you have a last name?” Jean asked a moment later.

I let out a sigh of exasperation. “Look Jean, no offence, but the exam is in five minutes and if I were you I would be doing some last minute studying.”

“Nah, don’t think I will,” he said, scrunching up his nose. “You’d think after taking this course three fuckin’ times that I could probably teach it, but yet here we are.”

I grumbled something under my breath and tried my best to ignore him, but he never shut up until the Dean of the college, Keith Shadis, asked us to put our bags and materials up to the front of the class before returning to our seats.

“So much for last minute studying,” I sighed quietly and slumped back in my chair as the Dean began his speech.

“Listen up every one,” the Dean’s strong voice boomed, echoing off the gymnasium walls. “You will have three hours to complete the exam. You may leave after half an hour has passed, and all papers must be turned in by the three hour mark. Any individual who fails to complete the exam in that time frame will have to hand in whatever it is they have, finished or not. Use your time wisely. If anyone is caught cheating, they will receive an automatic zero, a failing grade, will be asked to leave the room, and will potentially be expelled from the college itself. Is that clear?” 

A few nodded their heads in understanding. Our college was a no-bullshit kind of place and took itself really seriously--he wasn't kidding when he said you could b expelled for something as trivial as cheating.

“Good. I will be coming around to sign you in, so make sure you have your Student I.D out,” he growled and began his work.

I pulled my card out of my pocket and placed it at the corner of my desk. I had no problem checking in when the Dean came around, but Jean seemed to not only have forgotten his I.D, he also apparently, as I overheard, wasn’t even on the class list.

“If you’re not on the list, I can’t allow you to take the exam,” Dean Shadis said coldly.

“Please, sir. It’s crucial that I take this exam. My future is on the line here,” Jean pleaded, sounding like a bad child actor.

“That’s not my problem. Take it up with the administration if you want a solution. Grab your bag and leave, now.”

Mr. Shadis began to walk past Jean, but Jean grabbed his wrist and flashed him a look. “Please, sir,” he said in a quieter voice. His head cocked to the side in an innocent manner and the fingers on his free hand lightly touched his temple. “Please may I take the exam?” 

The Dean was quiet for a moment, then sighed and said, “fine.”

Jean smiled devilishly and released his hand, winking in my direction as soon as Keith was passed him.

I frowned, but didn’t dwell on what just happened, though the fact that Keith Shadis, the Dean of this college, notorious for being an unapologetic, rude, and unforgiving basard, just allowed that to happen was a little too weird to believe.

“Time starts now! Get to work, all of you.”

The Dean's voice jerked me out of my thoughts and I flipped open the booklet to page 1.

_Pick four of the eight literary terms and define them as well as use examples on how they are used in literature, preferably from the novels we have covered this semester._

This was going to be too easy. Or maybe I spoke too soon because not ten minutes into the exam, disaster struck.

“Ohh, so Bodt is your last name!” a familiar male voice said for just my ears to hone in on and I looked over to see Jean cheekily peeking over at my exam booklet where I had neatly scribbled my name. As soon as he saw me look over, his eyes widened in mock horror and he raised his hand sky high into the air. 

“What are you doing?” I hissed under my breath.

“Dean Shadis! Marco is looking at my test!”

The Dean’s head shot in our direction and I didn’t have enough time to glance away from Jean to make it look as though I wasn’t suspicious.

“He’s lying!” I cried in protest.

“No I’m not! I saw him; he was looking right over at my test!” 

“You were the one who—!”

“Enough! Both of you, out of this classroom, NOW!” the Dean roared, red in the face and nostrils flaring. 

My heart stopped right then and there. I couldn’t possibly be getting kicked out, there was no way. I would get a zero, I would flunk out the class, and my GPA would sink like a rock…

Jean just shrugged it off, a smug look painted on his face as he abandoned his test and strolled up to the front of the classroom. I shakily retrieved my pencil and eraser and followed him, my heartbeat pounding in my ears. As I approached the front of the room and picked up my bag, I looked pleadingly over at Dean Shadis like Jean had done before.

“Please, sir. I—”

“Not another word. Get out,” he growled and pointed to the door where Jean had already disappeared out of.

“Yes, sir,” I said quietly and slung my bag over my shoulder. A few kids began to snicker as I walked out of the door and the Dean shouted at them to be quiet and resume. By the time I was out in the hallway, all my shock had converted itself into anger and my hands balled into fists. Where was Jean? If I ever saw that two-toned bastard, I swear I would kill him. That kid had cost me my entire future with that one test.

No matter how hard I looked for him on my way out of the building, he was nowhere to be found and I gave up searching. I got into my dumpy car in the parking lot a minute later, still fuming, and I slammed my fists onto the steering wheel.

“Damn him!” I screamed, and blared the car horn as loud as I could to drown out my yell.

I was angry all the way to the grocery store near my house. I picked up some tea and my favourite expensive brand of ice cream that I hardly ever treated myself to. I needed some time to myself tonight. Because of that kid though, I had hardly any patience with life at the moment and went out of my way to seem as miserable and irritated as possible while waiting in the line. The one lady who was always the cashier I saw, took one glance at me and her eyes softened in sympathy.

“How are you today, Marco?” she asked softly, trying to break my dark mood.

“Just peachy,” I muttered and paid for my things as hastily as I could before heading back on my trek back home.

It wasn’t so bad when I got home. I retrieved the mail from the mailbox and placed it on the kitchen counter. I was in no mood at the moment to see that I had yet another bill to pay off. I put the kettle on to boil myself some water, and in the meantime, I scooped myself a bowl of ice cream and settled down in front of the television. Maybe all I needed was a good emotional movie to watch and Titanic sounded like the perfect choice.

The movie was just as sad as the first time I watched it and by the time it was over, I had gone through two bowls of ice cream, four cups of tea, and most importantly, I had forgotten all about that stupid Jean Kirsch-whatever. Well, not completely forgotten, but my rage towards him was being mellowed by the warming sensation of my green tea.

I retrieved my bowl and cup and went back into the kitchen, making myself yet another cup of tea while I sat down at the kitchen table and sifted through the mail.

“Junk mail, junk mail, coupons, junk mail, bills, jun—oh hang on. What’s this?” Held between my fingertips was a large manila envelope with no return address. In its place in bright red calligraphy was the word ‘CONFIDENTIAL’. The envelope was in rough shape with tears and bends as if it had been caught between the seats of the post man’s car, and then crammed into a bag with no care at all, and in some places it even looked like it had been singed by fire and then quickly put out just like the illegible letters I had been getting.  
Curious as to what was inside of it, I tore open the envelope and retrieved the letter inside. It was in no better shape than the envelope and looked like one of those cliché Social Studies assignments where the students smeared milk over the paper with a pastry brush and popped it in the oven to make it look old and authentic. Half the time it was a struggle to see what the actual report was on under the brown stains, and even on this, I had to squint my eyes carefully to read the handwriting which unlike the other letters, was legible.

Dear Mr. Bodt,

It is my deepest pleasure to announce that you have been selected out of millions to join the most prestigious academy in the world. Upon hearing of your circumstances and checking your school records, we believe you will be an excellent fit amongst our students and faculty. We will be sending someone to collect you within the week, so I highly recommend packing what belongings you need and saying goodbye to friends and family in the area. We wish you luck with your future studies at the academy, and once again, congratulations. 

There was no signature at the end of the letter, only a stamp while looked vaguely like the main elements. I stared at the letter for the longest time, re-reading it once, twice, and then three times. Each time I read it, it didn’t make any more sense than the previous time. 

“’Prestigious school’, ‘one of millions’”, I mocked and let out a small snort. That’s what they all say. It was nothing more than a load of garbage.

I crumpled the letter into a ball without a second though and threw it in the trash with the rest of the junk mail. I took one look at the bills splayed out on the kitchen table and ran a tired hand through my hair before pinning them on to the fridge. Peter Pan was right—who in their right mind would want to grow up and have all these responsibilities thrust upon them.

I didn’t want to think about my inevitable expulsion from the college now that I had lost everything. I could only go to bed and pray that an answer would come to me in my sleep. I brushed my teeth, changed into my pyjamas and crawled under the thick down comforter. Everything would be better in the morning, it always was. 

I snugged deeper into the blankets with a sigh and fell into an uneasy sleep.


	2. Unanswered Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has been so amazing towards this fic! c:  
> I'm also sort of changing this from an elemental AU to a sort of x-men AU because I just wanted more to work with. The plot I have planned out will still be the same though.

It was cold. Like, really insanely cold. I’m not talking about the cold that you feel if you have the fridge open too long in the winter season and you get a slight chill. I mean, here I was standing in a deserted cobblestone street in nothing on but my favourite pair of pyjama bottoms. That kind of cold. 

Snow swirled all around me, dusting the rooftops and littering the landscape with a milky white blanket. Yet, despite this snowstorm, I didn’t feel the cold. No matter how many snowflakes brushed past my skin or a cold breeze rushed up the opening of my pant legs, I felt nothing. No cold, just the wetness of the snowflakes as they melted against my still warm skin and the force of the wind pushing me back as I strained my eyes to try and see through the thick sheet of white.

Sure enough, if I looked hard enough, the dark outline of a figure was coming towards me. It was slow moving at first, but as they neared, the snow began to clear and I could make out certain features more clearly now. 

Two toned hair, a long horse-like face, and tawny eyes.

“Jean,” I growled into the wind, but it was carried away.

Jean walked closer and removed the red scarf wrapped around his neck and placed it around mine with a smirk. Inside, I could feel my burning rage for him growing and my hand clenched into a fist. I was not normally an angry person, it was completely against my nature, but as they say: given the right circumstances, anyone is capable of murder. This was the boy who has cost me everything at that last exam. He was the reason I wasn’t going to have a future.

When I thought he was least expecting it, I whirled my fist upward, but he caught my wrist without even blinking and narrowed his eyes playfully. His hand felt like fire against my skin and I ripped my hand away from him, expecting to find a burn, but there was none.

“Didn’t you mom ever tell you it’s rude to hit someone?” Jean teased, fussing with the scarf around my neck. “You must be freezing just standing out here in hardly anything but your underwear.” A small chuckle escaped his lips and I guess he expected me to laugh too, because he then pouted when I didn’t. “Oh come on, Marco, lighten up a little.”

My eyes didn’t leave his face and I didn’t make any attempt to jerk away from him. 

“Don’t tell me to lighten up when you’re the one that cost me my entire education because of that stunt that you pulled. It’s kind of expected that I’m going to be a little pissed off,” I growled.

“You’ll grow to forgive me, freckles,” Jean said with a grin and patted my shoulders when he had adjusted the scarf to his liking. He then smiled and jerked his head to the right. “Come with me—I want to show you something.”

For the sole purpose that I didn’t know where I was or how to get back, I reluctantly followed him down the cobblestone path. 

Along the edges of the path were ratty houses—ones with tattered curtains that flapped in the breeze and looked like the household cat had ripped them to shreds. Some of the houses had shutters and they smacked against the sides of the houses with a terrible clattering sound. Out of the corners of my eyes, I swore that I could see shadows moving nearby on either side of me, and a few times when I glanced up at the windows, I saw a dark figure walk, or rather float, by. Before I could get a good look though, a wailing noise would come from the house and the shutters would slam close and I was left with an uncomfortable feeling stirring in the pit of my stomach. 

“What are those, Jean?” I asked, picking my pace up to catch up the blonde.

“Don’t worry about them right now. Just don’t look at them,” he replied. For once in his life, he sounded serious and his tawny eyes flickered with worry.

I would be lying if I said that that provided me with any comfort whatsoever. If anything, I had never felt so vulnerable in my life.

We continued down the path and I did my best not to look into the windows, but curiosity got the better of me and I took a quick glance up into one of the rooms. The dark figure must have sensed me looking at them for they all of a sudden stopped dead in their tracks and let out a horrifying screech before descending from the window. They moved in a glitch-y fashion, much like a faulty video game character and with another caterwaul, a bright white light flashed and they transformed into a girl with long dark hair and pasty white skin.

“Idiot!” Jean yelled as he whipped around to see what was going on. His eyes widened in horror and before I knew it, he was shoving me out of the way and I fell into the snow. “Run!”

The girl’s expression also changed to one of fury and in another flash of light, several pairs of surgical scissors appeared in her hands and she lunged forward. 

“Jean!” she screeched and hurled one pair of her scissors directly at me.

“No!” Jean cried, and flung himself in the way of the oncoming weapon. The scissor embedded itself in his arm and he cried out in pain, but that didn’t stop him from reaching out his other hand and firing a stream of fire at her. 

The girl let out a terrifying scream of pain as the flames seared her body and caught her dress on fire. She threw herself into the snow to save her garments and rolled around in agony, desperate to put out the flames.

“Jean!” I exclaimed.

“Just go!” Jean demanded through clenched teeth as he ripped the scissors out from his arm. “We don’t have time!”

I caught glimpse of his eyes which were not their usual amber and instead were a vibrant red with an electrical current running through the iris. An intricate glowing tattoo design along his cheek and arm caught my attention, but I didn’t have enough time to fully examine it because he was getting back to his feet and hauled me to mine as well. 

The girl had doused the flames and was struggling to get back to her feet, but the fire had left her skin seared in numerous places and with every movement that she made, she collapsed back down in the snow in a screech of agony, unable to get up.

“Come on!” Jean urged and grabbed my wrist, pulling me desperately along behind him.

“Don’t leave me to die, Jean! Don’t leave me!” the girl screamed. “Jean!”

Her screams haunted my thoughts, but Jean didn’t look back. He held onto my wrist tighter and did not slow his pace for one moment—not until we were in the clear and far from the cobblestone city. Now, we in a clearing covered in a thick blanket of snow with the moon shining brightly overhead, making the landscape into a calming silver paradise. 

Jean released my wrist and collapsed into the closest snow bed. His eyes closed for a brief moment and the glowing tattoos from his body disappeared. The wound from his forearm was still seeping blood and trickled faintly down his forearm and stained the snow red. I watched him as he heaved a few deep breaths, then sighed and his breathing subsided.

When it didn’t start up again right away, panic set in immediately and I dropped to the ground next to him. I didn’t care whether this guy ruined my future or not; I wasn’t about to let him die.

“Jean!” I removed the scarf around my neck and was about to press it against his wound, but one of his eyes shot open and he sat up in alarm.

“What? What’s wrong? Is she back?” His head whirled around furiously trying to catch even the slightest glimpse of the girl.

I sank back on my heels and shook my head. “No, she’s not. I just thought—well, you weren’t breathing so I was just gonna—”

“I’m fine,” Jean interrupted and a small smirk tugged on the corner of his lips. “Don’t worry about me, okay? This right here isn’t even close to what’s happened before in the past. I’ll get patched up when I get back to the academy.”

Images of the letter I had received that afternoon flashed through my head. “What academy?” I asked hesitantly.

Jean grunted as he shifted and settled back into the snow drift with his arms behind his head. “Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to,” he chuckled.

“I don’t know the answer, though,” I insisted.

Jean sighed and propped himself up on his elbows, glancing over at me with a look that sent a spark straight to my stomach. “Just give it a little more time, okay?”

“What do you mean? And who was that girl back there?”

Jean smile faded for just a moment. “You know, for someone so smart, you sure have a lot of questions.”

“Well you can’t expect me to know the answer to something that I’ve never even heard of before,” I said defensively.

“No need to get defensive,” Jean chuckled and ruffled my dark hair. 

I had to admit, he was sort of charming in his own way, but I was still bitter about the whole exam scenario. “You still haven’t answered my questions.”

Jean made an irritated grumbling noise deep within his throat. “It doesn’t matter. What does matter though,” he said as he got to his feet, “is the main reason why we’re here.”

“But we’re not actually here. This is a dream, right?” I asked.

Jean snorted. “Dream, reality. Who’s to say which one is fake and which one is real? Whatever, it doesn’t matter. Come on, I’ll show you something for real this time.” Jean began walking down the snow bank towards a lake near the bottom that I hadn’t noticed before.

“Where are we going?” I asked, wrapping the scarf around my neck once more.

“You’ll see,” Jean called over his shoulder. He stopped at the water’s edge and beckoned for me to come closer. The water was completely frozen over and Jean wiped away a layer of snow that covered the water’s icy surface. Underneath, I could see the water churning and rippling as it continually slapped against the ice as if it were desperate to break free of its icy prison. Something in my chest felt tight and I wiggled my shoulders to make it go away.

“Watch this,” Jean whispered and I shifted my gaze over to him. His eyes closed and he stretched an arm out in front of him. A soft glow outlined the curves of his body and the tattoos from before begin to paint themselves across his biceps and forearms, snaking up his shoulder and neck in that intricate pattern that resembled flames. A moment later when he opened his eyes, they were once again that vibrant red and I could now look to see the electric current that sparked through his iris. When people said that some individuals had a smouldering stare, I highly doubted that anyone could beat Jean in that department.

“You may want to step back a little,” Jean warned and I retreated back up the snow bank. Jean smiled that smile of his then focused his palm towards the spot where he had uncovered the icy surface of the water. If I had blinked, I may have missed it, but a jet stream of fire burst from Jean’ palm and penetrated the ice with heat that I felt from where I stood as though I were next to it. The pain in my chest increased as I watched, but subsided when the fire died down. 

“Come on down!” Jean beckoned me back down and I did as he said, but my walk was jerky as I tried to make the uncomfortable pain in my chest disappear completely. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing. How did you do that?”

“You’ll find out soon enough, Marco.”

“What do you—” I was cut off though as Jean gripped both my shoulders and with immense strength, lifted my body off the ground and sent it flying towards the dark water.

I hardly had enough time to scream in terror before my body hit the water and submerged underneath the murky surface. Shock overcame me at once—my lungs seized up and my body went into a state of paralysis as the icy water consumed me and chilled me to the core. Water filled my nose and my mouth and when I opened my eyes, I couldn’t tell where I was. Which was way up? Which was down? Where was the surface? I began to panic and thrash about, finally able to feel my arms, but I only felt myself sinking deeper and deeper with every arm stroke. 

My eyes felt heavy, my brain felt foggy, and I could feel the last remnants of breath leave my lungs. I stopped thrashing when I realized it was hopeless and let myself submit to the water. Just before my eyes closed, I finally caught a glimpse of the moon above me and a voice echoed its way into my ears.

“Sweet dreams, Marco.”

 

-x-

 

In the days that followed, I didn’t have a single dream after that one. I was content with not having a dream for a while anyways. After that last one left me waking up and gasping for breath with Jean’s scarf still tied around my neck, I really began to question what a dream was and what reality was. 

Unlike the letter’s promise, no one came to collect me like it had said, and the painful feeling in my chest never returned. I guess you could say that I did feel different though. I felt…stronger, for the lack of a better word. If I looked into the mirror, I couldn’t notice a difference in my body type at all. I was still five foot, seven and three quarters of an inch tall, and I still weighed one-hundred-thirty-five pounds. I definitely had more energy though, and in my spare time, I worked out to burn off all the extra energy I had. My life however did take a turn for the worst. I was kicked out of another exam because notes that had my name on them were found and I was once again accused of cheating. My landlord phoned from their vacation and I was told when they got back that I would have to find another place to live. Apparently their son was needing a place to stay and they were going to give him the basement suite. I was fired from my job because my fingerprints were found on a lighter that was used to burn a few dozen library books. How that happened I don't know, but I had a sinking feeling that Jean was behind the majority of them and had made it his mission to make my life a living nightmare. 

It wasn’t until one day, exactly a week and a half after my dream, that I got a call from Keith Shadis himself and my life really hit its all time low.

“Bodt residence, Marco speaking,” I hastily spoke into the receiver as I scrambled to stop my boiling pot of macaroni and cheese from spilling over. The water spilled onto my fingers though and I unintentionally yelped as a reflex for my pain.

“Hi, Marco. This is Dean Shadis. Am I catching you at a bad time?” the sarcastic voice spoke. I could almost feel the level of unimpressed in his voice and I bit my tongue to stop from yelling out again even though my hand was beginning to sting.

“No, no, not at all. Now’s as good a time as any. How can I help?” I asked, straining my noodles while simultaneously trying not to drop the phone into the pot.

“I was wondering if you could take time out of your busy schedule this afternoon and come and see me. I think you and I both know that we need to discuss your behaviour at the exams and decide on your future enrollment in this college.” The Dean’s voice was cold and unapologetic ad I knew with a sinking feeling almost the exact words that he was going to say to me.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” I said with a quick glance over at the clock. 1:45. “How does 2:30 sound?”

“If you can’t make it before then, then that works.”

“Right. 2:30. I’ll be there then, and I just want to say that—”

“2:30, Mr. Bodt. Don’t be late,” Dean Shadis cut me off before I could initially apologize and hung the phone up, leaving me with nothing but the dull hum of the dial tone. 

I gripped the phone in frustration and hung it up angrily. Honestly, what was even the point of going to see him to talk when I already knew that he was going to expel me from the college? Dean Shadis was relentless and unforgiving, and I swear Jean did everything on purpose back at the final in order to get me expelled. With every passing day, I grew more and more suspicious that Jean was somehow linked to the letter that I received in the mail, and the only way he could get me to come to the academy was no make sure that I had absolutely no future here.

It was incredibly selfish on his part. I had worked my ass off after mom got sick to take sure that I did have a future in his town, and he was about to take it all away from me.

What a jerk.

With a sinking feeling, I knew that I wouldn’t have enough time to enjoy my very nutritious and beneficial bowl of dry noodles and processed cheese and instead of eating it, I threw it in a Tupperware container and put it in the fridge for later. I still needed to get gas and prep myself for my meeting with the Dean.

I did what I had to do around the house and got myself ready, brushing my teeth and sorting out my mess of a bed head. I grabbed the keys out of the dish and opened the door, but not before I noticed that Jean’s scarf was hanging on the back of the kitchen chair. I glanced outside and a chilly breeze rolled in, and in a last minute decision, I wrapped the red scarf around my neck and finally left the house. I wouldn’t be able to make it to the college on an eighth of a tank so I filled up it up, and then plugged in my favourite mix CD of 90’s boy bands to calm my nerves. 

Despite the sweet melody of the Backstreet Boys playing the background though, I was on edge nearly the entire time. It didn’t help my nerves any that I was hitting every single red light on the way to the college and the familiar painful feeling in my chest was slowing spreading up my sternum. I coughed once, but it didn’t go away and it made my skin prickle with irritation and discomfort.

I squirmed impatiently in the car seat, gnawing on a stray hangnail, and hardly daring to look over at the time. Temptation got the better of me though and the turquoise numbers almost tauntingly read back 2:27.

“No, no, no, no!" I yelled as panic set in and I frantically strained to see if there was some way that I could get around this traffic and travel down the side roads. I saw an opening, but just as I glanced in my rear view mirror, a familiar face with the toothy grin stared straight back at me and I swear my heart stopped right then and there. 

“I see you’re enjoying my scarf,” Jean laughed.

With a scream of shock, my foot slipped off the brake and hit the gas pedal hard. The car lurched forward and I fumbled clumsily around with my foot to find the brake again. It was too late though. My car smashed into the back of the car in front of me just as my foot regained its position and my faulty airbags refused to detonate, causing my chest to slam into the steering wheel and make my car let out a noise that was a pitiful excuse of a horn.

I coughed and sputtered, gulping in massive amounts of air in between to bring my breathing back to normal as I collapsed back in my seat. My heart beat dangerously fast and pounded against my ribcage with such a force that I thought I was going to slip into cardiac arrest, but for an odd reason I didn’t feel the strange internal pain from before . 

It wasn’t until my breathing had come back to me that I realized what had just happened and my eyes widened in horror. I furiously whipped around to inspect the back seat, but there was no Jean. Just an empty McDonalds bag, an Oh Henry candy wrapper, and a few empty CD cases. 

What the hell was going on?

With a groan, I faced forward again and rested my throbbing head on the back of the car seat. At this point I didn’t even care anymore about anything, or even about my meeting with Dean Shadis. I was already late, and instead of getting chewed out for something I didn’t even do, I was here, holding up the left turning lane because the front end of my Volkswagen Jetta was embedded in the trunk of the car in front of me. It should have been into the back of a truck with poorly secured flag poles or something. At least then one of them could have dislodged and sailed through the windshield, piercing my chest or any other fatal area and ending my train wreck of a life right then and there.

Before I could even fathom the thought of this day getting possibly any worse, a red faced lady who shared an uncanny resemblance to Professor Umbridge from Harry Potter was clicking her way over to my window, her tiny hat dangling precariously from one of her short curls.

“Aw, crap,” I muttered under my breath. The woman was beside my window now, cherry red in the face and one hand was perched on her hip while the other curled into a fist and annoying tapped on the driver side window. If her face was leaned any more forward towards me, I swear her little nose that made her look like a Who from the Dr. Seuss books would be squished up against the glass.

Before stepping out, I checked the back seat once more to make sure that Jean wasn’t there again and felt relieved yet annoyed that he wasn’t. Oh, the things I would say to him.

As much as I didn’t want to do this, I mustered up my best apologetic smile and stepped out of my car to survey the damage. With a quick glance, it didn’t look like too much was actually wrong, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what she was so angry about. Upon initial inspection, it looked as though I had only tapped the bumper.

“I am so sorry,” I apologized hastily and fumbled around for my wallet in my jean pocket. The woman did not look so amused.

“You hit my car!” she cried, shaking with so much anger that the tiny hat finally fell from her curls.

“I know, I know, and it’s my fault. You wouldn’t even believe me if I told you why it happened,” I said, half mumbling the last part under my breath. I pulled my driver’s licence out from my wallet and pulled my phone out. “Can I get your information, please?”

A chill ran through me suddenly even though there was no wind, but at the same time I felt the cold the woman who had had an equally icy stare on me now had her eyes widening in horror and before I could react, she grabbed my phone from my hand and threw it to the ground, crushing it with her pastel pink heels.

“What are you doing?!” I dropped to the ground immediately and started to retrieve the various pieces of my smashed cell phone. She took advantage of this and her foot collided with my jaw with a force that I didn’t think someone like her could muster. I fell over onto the harsh concrete and it took me a moment to crack my jaw back into place.

“Go to hell, you freak!” the woman snarled, and with a final stomp to most vital piece of my phone, she clicked away back to her car and drove away. As her car pulled away, the front licence plate of my Jetta clattered to the ground and I was left lying completely stunned. I felt a warm sensation on my nose and I tentatively reached up and felt something sticky. I pulled away to find that my nose was bleeding, and little drops of blood had already landed on and stained Jean’ already red scarf.

“What the hell just happened?” I whispered to myself as I collected the rest of my phone and licence plate from off the road and stumbled back to my car. An even better question I should have been asking was why no one came to help me? In fact, every person I looked over at almost looked afraid of me and only paused to glance over for a moment before hurriedly running or driving away. The cars that remained were incessantly blaring their horns at me, and I hastily slipped back into my car before anyone else could get mad at me.

Miraculously, or maybe it was just dumb luck, my car started with a choking roar and I puffed away in my mangled little Jetta, leaving the bystanders in a combination of exhaust and grit. 

Not to my surprise, the day continued to grow worse and worse from that point onward. Not only did the clock not work anymore in my car so I had no idea just how late I was, but my favourite CD was jammed in the music player and sounded garbled and distorted whenever I tried to play it. It was like Backstreet Boys meets Alvin and the Chipmunks.

To top it all off, I was pulled over not once, but twice on my way to the college. Once because I was speeding, but the cop was too frightened of me for whatever reason and never gave me a ticket, and the second time because I was driving without a front licence plate. The second officer I admit was more forceful in a way that he said it was required by law that he had to take my car, but he made me promise not to hurt him if he did so.

What was with everyone? 

Needless to say, by the time everything was said and done and I made it to the school at a harsh sprint, it was just after 3:45, and every school clock taunted me as I raced down the hallways. With the college being so quiet, I could almost hear the tick tock clear as day. I burst into the Dean’s office moments later to find him packing up papers into his briefcase.

“Dean Shadis!” I gasped, buckling over at the waist as I fought for breath.

“Well, well, Mr. Bodt,” the Dean mocked, pausing from his packing. “I was beginning to wonder if you would even show up at all.” He then frowned as he saw my face and scarf. “Get into a fight on the way here?”

“I can explain!” I rasped.

“Oh, I can’t wait to see what excuse you have this time,” he murmured coldly and shut his briefcase with a sharp snap. “Sit.”

I stumbled over to the chair in front of his desk and plopped down in it with a sigh. 

“So, what happened? I’m all ears,” the Dean said as he took his seat as well, narrowing his eyes.

“I was in an accident! My car was impound—” I began, but the Dean held up his hand.

“I’ve heard enough,” he growled.

“It’s true! I was on my way here, but then I saw—” I cut myself off this time and bit my tongue to stop my mouth from blurting out any more like verbal diarrhea. I wasn’t about to tell the Dean that I had crashed because I had seen Jean in the backseat of my car, but he wasn’t actually there.

The Dean’s eyes narrowed further suspiciously and he leaned forward ever so slightly. “You saw what?” he asked expectantly.

“N-never mind. Forget I said anything,” I hastily stammered. “It was just a dog.”

“Uh-huh.” The Dean settled back in his chair and crossed his arms. He stared at me and didn’t say anything for a moment and I squirmed uncomfortably under his scrutinizing stare. His eyes flickered across my face and his fingers drummed against his arm as though he were pondering on what to say next or waiting for me.

“What do you want me to say?” I asked when he refused to talk.

The Dean cleared his throat and he snapped back to the present. “Nothing, Mr. Bodt. Nothing at all. So now that we have that lie out of the way, let us discuss what happened at the final exam, shall we? Can you at least be honest on what happened there?”

“I told you! That wasn’t my faul—”

“Mr. Bodt!” the Dean roared, slamming his hands on his desk and standing up abruptly which made me flinch. “I have had just about enough of you! You come in more than an hour late for a meeting because of your disgusting performance at the final exams, you make up these heinous and unbelievable excuses as to why you were late for said meeting, and then you have the audacity to talk to me in that tone of voice! You were caught cheating not only once, but twice! I can't think of any reason why I shouldn't expel you right here and now."

"I can explain!"

"Oh then, by all means. I would love to hear the truth. Go on, Mr. Bodt," the Dean sneered.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I literally had nothing to defend myself, no reason as to why I had the answers to the last exam, and no explanation for Jean.

I had nothing, and that thought alone made my eyes begin to water with frustration and I squeezed them tight to fight from crying.

“Well then, I think we’re done here,” I heard the Dean whisper, and I forced open my tightly shut eyes to see him rise up back to his desk to collect his briefcase. “Get out, Mr. Bodt. I don’t want to see you in this college again.”

My world felt as though it were crumbling around me at his words and my hands tangled in my hair to keep from screaming. Three years of education gone, and with the stains of cheating on my record, it was pretty well set in stone that no other college would ever accept me.

My chest felt tight and the knot in my throat threatened to choke me. What was I going to do now...?

I took a moment to get my bearings, then rose to my feet slowly, my hands uncurling from their frozen state in my hair. Mustering up everything that I still had in me, I looked the Dean straight in the eyes and met his unapologetic stare.

“Rot in hell, Mr. Shadis,” I croaked, my words hardly legible as I tried to find my voice. 

I expected him to scream at me, maybe even hit me, but the Dean just turned up his nose in distaste and his nostrils flared like a bull before it charges at the ring master. He did nothing but open the door to his office and point one lanky finger out into the hallway.

“Leave.”

I didn’t need any more motivation to leave that poisonous room; I could feel his words weighing me down as I trudged out of the room and made for the emergency exit nearby. I pushed through the double steeled doors and into the crisp November air, trying as best as I could to calm myself down, but his voice kept replaying in my mind like a broken record player. 

Bracing myself against the wall of the school, I keeled over and vomited onto the pavement. It was sickening to think that soon I would be homeless unless I found a cheap enough place to take me, and even then I would have to find a new place to work. I couldn't use the library as a reference because of what happened, and finding a job that would support me would be impossible.

I was doomed.

I straightened up and wiped my mouth on the sleeve of my jacket and tightened Jean’s scarf around my neck. With a final look at the college I was never to return to, I set off on my way home. Or at least, my home for now. I shivered at the thought of being on the street for the Winter and desperately wracked my brain for a distraction until the scent of Jean's cheap cologne that lingered on his scarf wafted up my nose.

The dream.

I had so many questions that I had just pushed aside and no answers. No matter how hard I tried and replayed everything in my head, nothing made sense to me.

Who was the girl? Or more importantly, what was she? What was with my shadow being white all the time? What did Jean have to do with anything? And the most important one of all: why did Jean go through that much trouble just to throw me in a frozen lake to drown? Nothing made sense to me, and when I returned home an hour and a half later, I was stuck with more questions than I had before and Dean Shadis’ words were crawling back into my head.

My head began to spin and my legs quaked underneath me so hard that I had to stop and brace myself against the door frame for a moment before I stepped into the house. I could feel tears stinging behind my eyes that threatened to spill over, but I clenched my teeth together hard and forced myself not to think about it.

I needed to lie down and maybe take a nap. I felt too anxious to do anything else, and with any luck I would get a peaceful night sleep for once.

Settling down onto the couch, I held the scarf close and pulled the afghan over me, desperately hoping that I would dream and leave this horrible day behind me.


	3. The Ultimatum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE NOT READING THIS FIC FOR THE FIRST TIME:
> 
> I edited the second chapter and took out that chunk about Marco's past about what happened in his freshman year at college. It wasn't until I re-read my work that I had this huge frown on my face and realized that it really would serve no purpose in the long run. My sincerest apologies!
> 
> If you're a first time reader, then welcome! c:

Nothing happened. No dream, no Jean, no nothing.

When I awoke it was already dark outside, yet it was only 6:30pm. I had only been sleeping for three hours and now I was feeling even groggier than I did before. The afghan and scarf clung to me uncomfortably and my skin felt unbelievably warm despite the cool temperature of the house. I needed fresh air.

Throwing the afghan off of me and taking the scarf as a back up, I stepped outside into the backyard, something which I never did. Usually the dog from upstairs was tearing around the yard, and since it didn’t like me all that much, I kept my distance and stayed inside in front of my T.V. The owners had taken it on their trip with them though, so for the first time I had the yard all to myself. I had to admit, having the house to myself was really nice. I got to appreciate the stars more, and since the house was located away from the main city, they shone brightly and the moon seemed much larger.

A silvery glow blanketed the lawn, casting shadows along the borders of the fence which were lined by trees. I felt safe and I stretched out on one of the lawn chairs, heaving a sigh of contentment before closing my eyes for just a brief moment. I no sooner did so when that all too familiar feeling crept its way into my chest and when I opened my eyes again, a shadowed figure was sitting in the middle of the lawn twenty feet away from me.

With a yelp of surprise, I jerked upwards, but I didn’t get very far because the shadow moved at an inhuman speed and was soon looming over me, its face inches from mine. Under the glow of the single outdoor light above us, I could tell that this wasn’t Jean even though the boy’s face was shrouded by the hoodie he was wearing. 

“Well, well, well, who do we have here?” The male’s voice purred, smooth as silk, which sent shivers up my spine and I desperately tried to inch away from him as he pulled down the front of my shirt, exposing my collar bone. With a grin of satisfaction after staring at my exposed skin for a split second, he released it and bounced up onto the chair with a cry of satisfaction, perched like a cat.

“YES! I finally found you! I’ve been tracking you for days! Jeesh, you're harder to find than a needle in a haystack! Where have you been hiding? Never mind, dumb question. You’ve obviously been here avoiding me because I’ll admit, it’s not the first time that people have done that to me.”

I tried to make a dash for it, but the mysterious boy lunged forward with a small jump and kept me held down on the chair by straddling me, his hands planted on my chest. I awkwardly tried pushing him off, but although he seemed like he was light as a feather, the boy didn’t budge.

“Who are you?” I squeaked, beginning to panic. No one had been this close to me since the incident and my heart felt as though it would burst out of my chest. 

“Oh, jeez. I forgot again, damn it. Sorry, I’m new at this, forgive me. Rule number one in the Recruiter handbook: always introduce yourself before you initiate the recruitment. Beginner’s mistake, my bad.” The boy briefly tapped my nose with a “boop” and laughed before back flipping off of the lawn chair and resuming his cat-like sitting position on the grass in front of me.

“That still doesn’t answer my question,” I said hesitantly.

The boy palmed his forehead and shook his head. “They really shouldn’t have sent me to do this job,” he murmured under his breath, hardly audible enough for me to hear. “My name is Connie! I’m Jean’s apprentice, but I’m sure he’s told you all about me, hasn’t he? He’s told me all about you! Let me tell you, day and night, it’s the same thing over and over. Marco this, Marco that. I swear the dude hasn’t been this excited about a new Recruit for a long time!”

Connie let out a ‘mrrow’ of excitement and leapt forward again on all fours to resume his spot on the edge of the lawn chair which made me yelp in surprise. 

“Oh sorry, I guess I could lose the hood. It does make me a little frightening, doesn’t it? It’s all about the intimidation; that’s what Jean told me.” With a flick of his head, Connie threw back the hood to surprisingly reveal the most innocent face I had ever seen. 

The guy couldn’t have been more than sixteen with close cropped hair that made him seem bald and the strangest molten gold coloured eyes that glowed underneath the light. His face was still childish, slightly round in the cheeks and not yet fully matured and he had a permanent goofy grin on his face like a kid in a candy store. I don’t know what I had been so scared of before, but it certainly wasn’t this cute little munchkin. 

“And before you say it because I know you’re going to say it!” Connie piped up as I opened my mouth. “I’m not cute, okay? I'm sixteen years old and on my way to becoming the greatest Warrior that the academy has ever seen! Just you watch! One day I’ll be running the place and you’ll have to refer to me as Sir Connie! No, no, wait! Master Connie! Yeah, Master Connie. That sounds cool, right?”

“Um, yeah, I guess so,” I murmured. Did this guy ever stop talking?

A scowl hardened Connie’s features. “You know, you’re a real buzz kill. I don’t know why Jean thinks you’re so interesting anyways. No offence, but you’re kind of boring and you’re cramping my style, buddy. What do you say we end this snooze fest and go to the academy? Huh? What do you say? You’ll make my assignment really easy for me and they’ll give me a free Starbucks drink!”

I got off the chair and stared dumbfounded at him. Like the kid really needed anymore caffeine in his hyped up system. “I’m not going anywhere until I get some answers from Jean," I said firmly.

Connie crossed his arms on his chest and huffed. “Well you’ll be waiting here for a really long time because Jean isn’t coming. He’s busy so he sent me instead. If you want to see Jean, you have to come with me.”

“He’s not going to be busy forever,” I said insistently as I slid open the sliding glass door to the house. “I’ll wait here.”

A cool breeze whipped by me and suddenly Connie was there standing between me and the door to get back inside. “You’ve been chosen, Marco,” Connie growled, his features darkening and all playfulness drained from his voice. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

A part of me was afraid for a minute, but the bigger part scoffed at his words. Connie couldn’t have been more than five foot two and weigh more than one hundred and thirty pounds. I could easily overtake him if he tried anything.

“Yeah, sure you—” Just as I tried to shove past him, Connie braced himself against the frame and the door and jumped, delivering a powerful kick to my chest that sent me flying backwards. I hit the ground with a massive thud and all the air I had in my lungs was knocked out of me. I barely had enough time to recover before Connie was over me again, straddling my waist and kneading my chest painfully with his sharp finger nails that I noted were more like claws.

“I told you not to make me hurt you! Are you stupid or something? Now come to the Academy!” he spat, leaning so close to my face that his cold nose briefly brushed mine.

“Get off me!” I cried and roughly shoved Connie off before stumbling to my feet and making a break for the gate out to the front yard.

“Get back here!” Connie hissed and let out a caterwaul. I glanced behind me for a brief moment to see him scramble to his feet and leap at the side of my house, clawing his way up the siding and making it to the roof. He easily maneuvered his way along the tiles and once I was in range, he let out a screech and flung himself to the ground. A searing pain raced up my spine as his claws connected and sliced through my shirt. I cried out in pain, but I didn’t stop running. Luckily I had left the front door unlocked and I quickly entered, slamming the door shut behind me.

I heard Connie collide with the door and with a yowl of protest he began scratching at the wooden exterior. “Let me in!” he yowled.

“No way in hell,” I whispered to myself and barricaded the door before I raced to secure the back door. He was there too when I arrived, but not in time enough to get in. He raked his claws against the glass in a frenzy and it was then that I got to get a good look at him.

The once innocent Connie that I had first met had turned into some raging demon. His eyes glowed yellow and literally now looked like molten gold was being churned in his irises with the same electrical surge running through them as I had seen Jean’ss do in my dream. Down the side of his neck and stretching onto both of his hands was a similar tattoo pattern to Jean’s as well, but Connie’s more so resembled a striped pattern adorned with cat eyes than the flames that coated Jean’s body.

There was no time to think about that though because Connie had leapt onto the siding of my house again with a blood curdling yell of frustration and was making his way towards one of the upstairs windows. There was no way I would be able to make it in time to stop him. 

I headed the opposite way and barricaded myself in my room. There were no windows in here apart from the small skylight on the roof that was too small for any human, child or not, to fit through. I was safe for now and heaved a sigh of relief.

“Huh, kids these days. You have to keep them on such a short leash or who knows what trouble they’ll get up to,” a familiar voice snickered behind me and I turned around to see Jean splayed out on my bed, toying with one of the drawstrings on his hoodie.

“Jean!" I let out a small shriek as a crash sounded on the other side of the door, followed by scratching and a yowl of frustration. "What's going on?!?

Jean frowned at me like I was stupid. “You resisted, that’s what’s going on, dumbass,” Jean said, sitting up straight. “Recruiters aren’t so friendly when the people they are meant to recruit refuse to come with them. If you say no, well…” he gestured towards the door that sounded like it was getting ripped to shreds and made a half-assed smile. “…You get that.” 

“What do I do?” I asked fearfully, gingerly touching the claw marks that littered my back. I shivered at the thought of what Connie would do if he really got a chance to attack me.

“You come with us, Marco. You’ve been chosen.” He took a glance over at my injured back and winced slightly. “Don’t worry, the academy will—”

“I’m tired of hearing that! Academy this, academy that, just stop it!” I yelled in frustration. “What do you want with me?!"

Jean seemed surprised at my outburst and his eyes burned with a sudden frustration as well. “You really think that right now is a good fucking time to be discussing this, Marco? I thought you would have got it through your thick skull last time I saw you!”

“You threw me in a lake to die, Jean! How does that explain anything?”

Before he could answer though, a chunk of my door came flying at us and Jean quickly disintegrated it with a puff of fire that spurted from his palm. Connie’s arm slashed through the opening and he desperately clawed at thin air as if hoping to reach at us.

“You can’t hide from me, Marco! I’ll send you to the academy in pieces!” I heard him yowl. Fragments of the door were beginning to split off in bigger chunks and it wasn’t long before Connie would be in here.

Fear gripped my heart again. “Jean, stop him!” I cried, but Jean did nothing but stare at me.

“Not until you say that you’ll come with us,” he said.

My mouth gaped open. “You're crazy! We’re about to die here!”

“Say it, Marco.”

“No!”

Jean shrugged. “Your funeral.”

Another booming crash made me spin around to look at the door. Connie was halfway through the small hole he had made and was struggling to get his waist through. He screeched in frustration—I had never seen someone so desperate to get in. His hoodie was ripped in several places and the rips were stained by blood, from where I guess he had tried to squeeze through. His hands and claws were bloody as well with several splinters, but the kid refused to stop scratching to make the hole bigger. It wasn’t until he made it through and was on the ground in a semi-winded state that my fear really set in.

“Okay, fine! Fine! I will! Get me out of here!” I cried, desperately clinging onto Jean.

“Fuckin’ finally. Okay, hold on,” Jean snickered and snapped his fingers just as Connie got to his feet and lunged at us, fangs and claws bared.

I screwed my eyes shut and prepared for the worst as I felt my feet leave the ground, but nothing happened. There was a rush of wind, a slight pressure, and then the feeling of my feet finally touching the ground again moment later. Other than the wound on my back, I felt no pain, heard no noise, and even the familiar scent of my room had disappeared and was replaced by the smell of freshly mown grass and rain drops on hot pavement. I carefully opened my eyes as slow as I could, but I refused to let go of Jean’s warm body in fear of what I might see.

My room was gone as I had expected and instead Jean and I were standing in the middle of a street lamp lit courtyard near a giant water fountain. 

To my left, there was a path that led out to an open field and at the beginning of the path on either side of it were two buildings, each made of solid concrete with a single entrance and was fashioned with one of those rotating doors that you would find inside a fancy hotel. 

Both buildings were adorned with a symbol right above the door—one had a water droplet, while the other sported a flame. I could only guess that these were residential buildings where the students who attended the academy stayed during their studies. Windows stretched up the sides, and a few had their lights on. I caught a glimpse of a person with chocolate brown hair sitting beside the window reading a book, and when they felt my eyes on them, they glanced outside and waved in my direction. I blushed and looked down out of embarrassment and surveyed the rest of my surroundings.

To my right, it was a similar set up, except for that the buildings had different symbols above their doors. One bore a symbol of a leaf, while the other was a bit more confusing and the best that I could describe it would be a warped infinity symbol. If I glanced down the path, there was an even bigger building—not as tall, but definitely wider than the initial two. I made a mental note to check it out later, if I even got to, that is. I don’t think they would take kindly to non-Recruits snooping around their base. I still had to find out a way to get back from…whatever this place was.

I let go of Jean and turned around to face the giant building which I assumed was the academy itself. It was big and white and very inviting with floor to ceiling window panels and a greenery on top of the roof near the flag which had all the symbols I had seen before on the residential buildings. The academy was set up on higher ground and it took seven flights of stairs to reach it, but from my imagination, I could guess that the set up inside of the academy was pretty high tech and looked like something out of an Ikea commercial.

“So what do you think? Pretty fucking cool, right?” Jean asked, and I jumped at his voice. I turned around to see him standing there looking all proud of himself with his arms folded across his chest and that stupid toothy grin of his as if he had done me some huge favour.

I shrugged. “I don’t know, I think it could use a few more stairs. What do you think?”

Jean laughed and slapped me on the shoulder as he walked by me towards the massive staircase. “You’re funny. Now let’s go get you registered. Come on.”

I didn’t follow him as he walked off, but he quickly turned when he realized I wasn't.

“Come on! You can’t be a part of the academy if you don’t register,” Jean said with a laugh and then his smile died when he saw my face. 

I looked away from him out of shame and shuffled my one foot uncomfortably against the gravel.

Jean was silent for a moment and his lips pursed together as he stared at me, then looked off with a scoff. "Un-fucking-believable," he muttered under his breath. "You didn't mean what you said back there, did you?"

“Look, I’m sorry,” I blurted out, taking a step towards him, but then I stopped and let out a sigh. “But you can't just give me an ultimatum like that, Jean. I've had nothing but questions since you showed up and I need answers. You at least owe me that."

We were both silent for a long time, never taking our eyes off of each other. I couldn't understand why he was so angry with me and why he expected me right off the bat to do whatever he wanted. 

Jean finally broke the stare after what seemed like forever and nodded ever so slightly before running a frustrated hand through his hair. “Alright fine, but not here. It’s too risky,” he murmured and motioned for me to follow him. 

We went down the left path which looked like it led to nowhere but a grassy field, but we took a detour to the back of the school which was backed by a forest of evergreen trees. The forest was cut off by a chain link fence which could easily be scaled, but before I even touched the fence, Jean hand shot out and stopped me, casting me a warning glance.

“Wait,” he whispered.

I nodded silently and watched as Jean held his hand out in front of him. His entire eye began to glow a pinkish-purple and a similar glowing pattern of tattoos spread down his forearm. Casting my eyes away from him when I heard a small ‘bzzt’ of electricity, I saw a translucent purple wall that stretched from the base of the fence to as high as the clouds form in front of me. 

Jean furrowed his brows tightly in concentration and then with a single snap from his fingers, the wall was gone with a small zap and Jean fell to the ground.

“Jean! Are you okay?” I dropped to the ground beside him as he sat up and shivered. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he grunted as I helped him back up to his feet. “Shit… They’ve strengthened the barrier. That took a little more out of me than what it used to.”

“Who are they?” I asked.

“No one you need to worry about right now. Come on, we don’t have much time before they figure out what I’ve done,” Jean urged, clearing the fence and helping me over.

“Are we not supposed to be here?” Fear crept its way into my voice and made me squeak.

“Not really, but this is the only place in the academy that I can talk to you without anyone overhearing. Come on!” 

I followed Jean through the forest, clearing stumps and prickly brush that snagged on my jeans and made me trip nearly five times. Once we got deeper into the undergrowth, my ears picked up on a source of running water nearby and that’s where Jean had stopped. 

We came to a section of the forest where the ground suddenly dropped and was hollowed out to become a steep slope with a river running down at the bottom. A wide stream up at the top fell into a waterfall which fed the body of water below and ran into a cave before disappearing from sight.

“Over here,” Jean said as he settled on a large boulder near the edge. A smaller one rested beside it and he motioned for me join him. 

“I had a place like this back at home,” I said, trying to break the awkward tension that I felt around him and I sat on the rock next to him. “But two months after I found the place, the city closed it off with a barbed wire fence and I never had the guts to try and scale the thing to get back."

A smirk pulled at the edge of Jean’s lips and he flicked a fragment of the rock into the gully below. “You keep hanging around me, that will definitely change,” he said.

“I could use a little excitement in my life," I said, stretching out on the rock. "My friend Thomas always tried to make me more of the adventurous type.”

“You mean the douchebag with the basketball shorts?” Jean snickered.

“Hey!” I threw a pinecone at him, but he gave me a disbelieving look and I shook my head. “Yeah, I guess he is kind of one, isn’t he?”

“I can spot them a mile away,” Jean said and threw the pinecone back at me. “Anyways, I guess you kind of want that explanation now, don’t you?”

“Yeah, kind of,” I said expectantly and shifted so I was more so facing him.

“Ask away, then. I'm an open book.”

“Oh gee,” I murmured and bit my lip. There were so many of them swirling around in my head that I had no idea on where to even begin. I started with the first one that popped out in my head. “What is the academy for?”

“I, uh… I don’t know,” Jean said with a sheepish laugh and looked uncomfortable.

“Jean!”

“What?! I don’t! You think they tell me anything? I’ve been here for three years and I know about as much as you do!”

We stared at each other for a moment with my eyes narrowed and his wide with confusion. 

“It’s the truth,” he stressed.

“Fine. Next question,” I grumbled and fiddled with Jean’s scarf that I still wore. “What’s with the dreams?”

“Fuck… You have to ask the most difficult questions first, don’t you?” Jean muttered and sighed. “Okay, you’ll need a bit of back story before I can properly explain anything. We have four main ranks at the academy: Warrior, Recruiter, Intel, and Researcher. Warriors are the most self-explanatory. They’re the ones who are being trained as soldiers for the Academy. The Intel Personnel are a group of individuals who spend their days seeking out new Recruits for the academy, like you. Once they find someone, they assign one of the Recruiters, like me, to follow that person around and make it so they have no other choice but to join the academy. Since I’ve been here three years, I’m allowed to take on an apprentice. They gave me Connie, and as much as he says that he’s going to be a Warrior one day, the academy already gave him the destiny as a future Recruiter. Once the academy decides your fate, that’s what you’re stuck with for life whether you like it or not.”

“Sounds like you’re kind of desperate for members.”

Jean narrowed his eyes. “Shut up, we do what we have to do whether we fucking like it or not. Bad things can happen if we aren’t successful in our mission and refuse to follow orders.”

A light began to dawn on me. “That’s also the reason why you got me kicked out of the exam so that I would fail, and then you made me crash my car so that I would be late for my meeting with Dean Shadis!”

Jean looked slightly uncomfortable, but he nodded. “Hey, you crashed the car all on your own. But yeah, that was all my doing. I burned the books too in case you were wondering.”

My skin felt hot with irritation all over again. “Then how did you show up in my dreams and disappear all the time whenever I met you in real life?”

“When you become a Recruiter, you’re trained to tap into the subconscious of another person and communicate with them that way—it’s a lot safer. Because I live here in what you might call an alternate universe, we can’t stay in the real world for long periods of time before our bodies weaken. Being down there too long can take its toll on us, and a few of us have actually died from chasing our targets for so long. When you’re stronger after much more specialized training, you’re able to take that person’s subconscious and take them to an alternate reality, which is exactly what I did both times that I met you.”

I blushed harshly and looked away from him to hide it. So that was Jean in the first dream and the strong, soft hands that felt so good when they caressed my shivering skin belonged to him. 

I cleared my throat and hoped the blood would drain from my face. “Okay. Um, what about the Researchers?” I asked awkwardly.

Jean snickered and I cursed under my breath. He obviously knew what I was blushing about. Hell, the guy just told me he could pop into my head at any time. No doubt that’s what he was doing now. He confirmed my suspicions when I glanced over and he winked.

“What about the researchers?” I repeated.

“Oh, sorry.” Jean tried to contain one more laugh and took a deep breath before continuing. “The researchers are the other ones who are pretty self-explanatory. They mainly stick around in their labs and perform tests, test out hypothesis’, that kind of jazz. Some of them go on to be nurses and doctors for the academy, which reminds me: we have to head over there and get you patched up before you even enrol.”

I opened my mouth to object, but I just shut it. At the mention of my wound, I began to feel my back start to prickle and sting with discomfort and I rotated my shoulder to try and make it go away

“Any other questions?” Jean asked.

“Yeah,” I grunted, adjusting myself on the rock. “Why me? What’s so special about me?”

Jean shrugged. “Fuck if I know. You’ll have to ask Intel, not me. They’re the ones that chose you, I just collected you. I only know sort of what you are. It’s not exactly something that I can actually explain because I don’t know exactly what you are or what your power is. I only have a vague idea and that’s only if my plan actually worked.”

"You mean when you threw me in the lake?" I asked.

Jean flinched. “Yeah, kind of. Sorry about that. Intel’s orders, not mine.” His voice trailed off and he almost looked ashamed at what he had done.

“So I’m some kind of superhero then?” I wondered out loud. “Like the X-Men?” 

“I guess if that’s how you wanted to put it. We are kind of freaks in a way. That’s why everyone around you in the regular world was so afraid of you.”

“But what made me so frightening?”

Jean shrugged again. “It could have been a number of things. Your eyes could have flashed a different colour or your tattoos could have started to form without you knowing. You know, stuff like that doesn’t happen to normal people and when they see something that they don’t understand and can’t explain, they act out, it’s just how your shitty civilization is run there. That’s why I’m glad I came to the academy when I did three years ago. It’s much nicer here and everyone is on the same page. I guess you could say it was my way of escaping. I fucking hated it there.”

“Jeez, Jean. You have a low opinion on the human race,” I pointed out, noting the increasing harshness in his voice as he went on.

Jean sighed and wiped his hand down his face. “I just didn’t have the greatest time while I was there,” he said a little more gently, though I could tell he was repressing some sort of secret. It was in his body language and the way he fidgeted as though we were trying to distract himself.

“Okay, one last question,” I said quickly to help him out. Jean stared intently at me, his eyes flickering with a slight fear as though he knew the question that I was going to ask.

“What?” he asked when I didn’t speak for a moment.

“Who was—or what was—the girl who tried to attack us?” 

Jean’s expression turned to one of pain and his fist clenched so tightly together that his knuckles became white. “She was something that never should have happened and she was dealt with. That’s all you need to know,” he murmured under his breath.

“But—”

“Drop it, Marco.”

“I just—”

“I said, fucking drop it!” Jean burst out and stood up abruptly, firing a shot of fire from his palm at the rock face of the gully where it disintegrated and sent a few dislodged rocks careening into the stream below. 

My mouth gaped open in shock and Jean hopped down from the rock, landing in the crunchy leaves below. 

“Question time is over. We’re going back to the academy now,” he growled. “Follow me or stay here, I don’t fucking care.”

I watched him take a few steps away from me before he realized I wasn’t following him and he stopped. His shoulders rose and fell as he heaved a massive sigh and tuned around to meet my shocked expression. I had never seen him that angry before and to be honest, it was kind of frightening. 

Jean’s expression softened as he met my eyes and he cautiously took a step towards me. “Look, Marco... It’s just a touchy subject with me. Just don’t mention it again, okay?”

I nodded slowly. “I understand. Also…” I hopped down from my own rock to join him and chose my next words very carefully. “I’ve been thinking a lot while we were talking, and…” 

Jean’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. “You’re going to tell me that you don’t want to join, right?”

“No, no! That’s not it at all!” I cried, feeling frazzled at Jean’s disappointed look. I let out a sigh before continuing. “I thought a lot about what you said,” I began again and a small spark of hope appeared in Jean's eyes. “And… I decided that…”

I was suddenly cut off as a shrill alarm sounded and the trees surrounding us began to shake as though they were filled with birds trying to break free of it. 

“Shit,” Jean murmured under his breath. His eyes widened with fear and he took hold of my shoulders with a sense of urgency. “We have to go.”

The sirens began to blare louder and louder and as we tore through the forest, desperate to get back to the fence, I clasped my hands over my ears to try and drown it out. The noise pierced through my inadequate protection though and it didn’t take long before my head began to throb. As we closed in on the fence, I could see that the translucent barrier was beginning to flicker purple and become activated again. The thought that Jean and I might be trapped in here and would be caught made my heart pound dangerously fast against my ribcage.

Before I had time to panic though, I felt Jean grip my arms and I was lifted off the ground and sent sailing through the air towards the barrier.

“Tuck and roll!” I heard Jean yell over the blaring sirens and I immediately tucked my chin in, bracing myself for the ground. I hit it awkwardly with a thud and felt my shoulder pop, but I didn’t have any time to recover because Jean was over the fence as well and hauling me to my feet.

“Go! To the Flare Building!” he cried. “Don’t let them catch you!”

I didn’t question him—too many things were running through my head. I could only guess that the Flare Building that he had mentioned was the building from before that I had seen with a fire symbol on it. I tried to find the fastest way there while weaving in between the scenery along the way in case someone was on their way out here to investigate the ruckus. I held my shoulder in pain and clenched my teeth together hard to try and mask it. Jean was behind me moments later and forcibly pushed me through the revolving door to the building.

“In the elevator,” Jean hissed as we entered and as soon as we were in, Jean frantically pressed the elevator button to make it close and only when it did did he lean back against the wall and let out a sigh of relief.

“What do we do?” I whispered after a moment of silence.

“Shut up,” Jean hissed, casting me a warning glance and I fell silent. He pushed the button for the eighth floor and we began our ascent.

I glanced over at Jean and he had his eyes closed, his chest heaving in massive breaths. My guess was that he had been just as freaked out as I had been and had exhausted himself. The question is: who or what were we hiding from?

The elevator dinged open and Jean led me down the hallway, stopping in front of room 881. He rapped on the door a couple times and a short girl with brilliant blue eyes and blonde hair answered, her eyes wide with shock.

“Jean!” she exclaimed and her eyes darted all over Jean’s body. “What happened to you?! Come in, come in,” she fretted, noticing his banged up shape. Her blue eyes connected with mine as she ushered Jean inside and gave my body a once over as well. “Who is this?”

I opened my mouth to introduce myself, but Jean cut me off and dragged me in by my shirt sleeve.

“He’s with me,” he said, and closed the door behind us. “He was my target.”

“Oh! You must be Marco! You’ve become a hot topic this last month. I was wondering if I would ever get to meet you. My name is Krista.” Her voice was calming and gentle, and she had a soft face to match it. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, but winced when I extended my arm to shake her hand.

“Oh no, are you hurt as well?” Krista’s eyes clouded over with sympathy and she quickly set to work bustling about the room as if looking for something.

I sat next to Jean where he had seated himself on the bed and gingerly touched my shoulder. I could barely move it an inch before a searing pain raced down the length of my arm. 

“Just slightly,” I answered Krista who had returned with a medical kit. I glanced fearfully over at Jean who just smiled.

“Krista’s been at the academy for longer than I have and she’s one of the top nurses here. You’re in good hands,” he reassured me.

“Thank you, Jean,” Krista said with a giggle. She kneeled before Jean and I and pulled alcohol solution, gauze, tenser bandages, a couple syringes, and materials she would need for stitching up some of our deeper wounds, out from her kit. 

“What happened?” she asked as he soaked a cotton ball full of alcohol and pressed it against the gash on Jean cheek.

Jean winced and grunted slightly, but he let Krista continue. “We ran into some complications with getting Marco,” he said. 

Krista paused for a second and her eyes scanned Jean’s face before a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Something tells me that there’s more to that story,” she murmured and continued with her work.

I glanced fearfully over at Jean a panic began to set in once more. If Krista found out what we had done, would she report us? Krista obviously caught on to my panic and before Jean could reassure me again, she touched my knee.

“Don’t worry,” she said gently. “I’ve been Jean’s roommate for a long time; I’m used to this kind of thing. I would never rat him out for anything. He knows he can trust me, right, Jean?” she asked with a wink.

Before Jean could do or say anything, noises came from outside the single window and he got up quickly to check, but Krista gently pushed him back down onto the bed.

“Wait here, I’ll take a look,” she said and ventured carefully over to the window, pulling back the curtain. She was silent for a moment and even though there was no need to, I held my breath as if I thought that they could hear me.

Krista returned to us a moment later. “It’s okay,” she reassured us. “They’ve gone back into the academy now. They didn’t find anything from the sounds of it. You two got lucky.” She paused for a moment and then set back to work on patching up Jean’s mild wounds. “Now, you were saying what actually went on?”

Jean just shot her a look.

Krista sighed and stuck a Band-Aid on Jean’s cheek. “You know that the academy took down the bugs in the rooms now so you could have just as easily bought him here, right?” Her voice was stern, and the fact that she was so soft spoken almost made it even more intimidating to me. It was almost as though she were an elementary school teacher, or even my mom.

“Fuck... I forgot about that,” Jean grumbled and fiddled with the Band-Aid Krista had placed on his face. “Marco had a few questions about the Academy so I took him to my place."

“You’ll never learn, Jean,” Krista sighed and then glanced over at me where her expression softened into its usual smile. “Don’t get involved with this guy, okay?” she said with a laugh and removed Jean’s scarf from around my neck, giving it back to him. “He’s nothing but bad news.”

Jean grumbled something under his breath and I elbowed him in the ribs to get him to shut up. If I ended up staying at the Academy, t was going to be hard to avoid this guy when he was the only person that I knew, and I highly doubted Connie would want anything to do with me.

I was debating over my decision in my head when a sharp sounded snap jerked me out of my thoughts, followed by a strong pressure in my shoulders.

“Ah!” I cried out and hunched over, clutching my shoulder.

“Oops, sorry,” Krista apologized. “I figured I could snap your shoulder back into place when you weren’t paying attention. It hurts less that way. “Mind if I see your back, please?”

“Yeah, sure, go ahead,” I grunted and rubbed my throbbing shoulder while Krista pulled up the back of my shirt.

“Jean, can you hold this, please?” she asked, and soon Krista’s small hands were replaced by a larger and warmer hand that held my shirt in place. 

Krista set to work on my healing wound, pulling on a pair of surgical gloves as she washed and put ointment on my cut. Most of it had scabbed over, but with mine and Jean’s misadventure, I had no doubt that debris had gotten into it before it had fully healed and was causing an infection. Krista soaked a cotton ball of alcohol and lightly dabbed an open part and I sharply inhaled.

“Sorry again,” Krista apologized.

“No worries, just do what you have to do,” I rasped.

“Don’t worry, I’m almost done,” Krista replied gently and began to wrap my wound—long white bandages that wound all the way around my chest and fastened on the side. “I’m worried about possible infection though—I pulled out some debris. I’ll grab you some antibiotics from the lab downstairs and I’ll be right back. Wait right here and don’t go anywhere,” she said.

“Take your time, Krista,” Jean reassured him as the gentle blonde got up to leave. “I’ll be sure to keep him occupied.”

Krista just sighed and shook her head before closing the door behind her. Once she was gone, Jean focused his attention on me and closed the gap between us.

“Take off your shirt,” he said, almost demanding.

His words took me by surprise and my eyes widened in bewilderment. “You have got to be joking, r-right?” I stammered, but Jean wagged his eyebrows and was making those bedroom eyes at me. You know the look—the half-closed, sultry, I want your body right here and right now—that makes your skin prickle with unease, but makes your stomach fill up with butterflies. 

Jean leaned in towards me and I gulped nervously, unsure what to do or how to act. But before things could get ever more awkward for me, Jean pulled away from me sharply and he fell into gut wrenching laughter.

“Oh my god, you thought I was actually going to do it, didn’t you? You actually fell for it! I can’t believe it!” he chortled. 

My face and ears burned with embarassment and I took the pillow beside me to hit him with it.

Jean’s laughter ceased when he saw my face and let out a coupe half-assed laughs before wiping a tear out of the corner of his eye. “Oh come on, Marco. Lighten up, would you?” he teased and got up to go to his dresser.

“W-well it wasn’t funny,” I stammered.

“Oh what, so you wanted me to kiss you; is that it?” Jean asked jokingly, rummaging through his drawers.

“No!” I blurted out, a lot quicker than what I should have.

Jean just chuckled. “I was being serious about what I said, though: take off your shirt. It’s full of holes and covered in dirt and blood.” He sorted through his drawer a moment longer before throwing me a plain dark green sweater. “Put this on.”

I heaved a sigh as I fought to come down from my anxious state. “Thanks,” I mumbled and painfully tried to slip my old shirt off, but to no avail as the bandages kept getting caught on the fabric. I was left struggling and getting increasingly frustrated until Jean came over and knelt in front of me on the floor.

“Marco, calm down,” he laughed and I stopped struggling. “Here, let me help."

I silently nodded and gently lifted my arms as high as they could go without my shoulder being too aggravated while Jean worked on getting the shirt over my bandages and up and over my head. He placed it beside me and put the newer shirt on me which was three sizes too big. It smelt of smoke and the dying embers of a campfire and was big enough on me that if I stood up it would probably touch my knees.

“It’s a bit big,” I observed, pulling up the sleeves so they sat above my wrists.

“That's the idea of oversized sweaters, dumb-ass ,” Jean chuckled as he stood up and crossed the room to close his drawer and fix the clothes that hung out of it.

“Hey!” I crumpled up my old shirt into a ball and threw it across the room at him. Jean ducked to avoid it and threw it back, but he had a terrible aim and it went sailing towards the door instead. In that convenient and unfortunate moment, Krista also happened to re-enter the room and the dirty garment pegged her in the face.

“Oh shit, sorry, Krista,” Jean apologized.

Krista sighed and took one look at my destroyed shirt before wrinkling her nose and disposing of it in the trash can. “Boys will be boys,” she murmured under her breath. “Sorry I took so long,” she added in a more audible tone. “I had to lie to Bertholdt to get the medicine. It’s not easy lying to the head of the medical department.” She ran a hand through her hair, looking slightly frazzled, and then walked over to me and handed me a bottle of pills.

“Thanks, Krista. I really appreciate it,” I thanked her with a smile.

“You’re welcome. Just take two a day, one in the morning when you have breakfast, and another in the evening when you have dinner. Take it until the bottle is done and the infection should clear right up,” she explained and then stretched her arms above his head. “Well, it’s getting late; I’m headed off to bed now,” she yawned as she cleaned up her medical kit. “Do you two need anything else before I do?”

I shook my head and Jean muttered out a “nope.”

“Okay then. Marco, you should stay with us tonight until you get settled tomorrow. Given everything that’s happened tonight, I don’t know if the administration would be too keen on registering you into the academy tonight. Wait until tomorrow morning and in the mean time you can sleep in Jean’s bed.”

I opened my mouth to object, but Jean beat me to the punch.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out! Why does he get my bed? Where am I supposed to sleep?” he protested.

Krista looked blankly back at him as though the answer were obvious. “Your bed is big enough for the two of you. I don’t see why you can’t share, unless either of you have objections to that.”

“I can just sleep on the floor or something!” I piped up before Jean could say anything to that, but no one seemed to hear me.

“Why can’t he use your bed?” Jean asked Krista.

“Because of my accident, I need a soft mattress to support my body or I’ll be in the hospital wing for a week,” Krista explained gently. “Do you remember what happened the last time?”

“I-it’s okay! I can sleep on the floor!” I repeated, a little louder this time. 

Krista glanced over at me with a concerned expression and her gaze softened. “With your shoulder, it would be a lot better if you had a comfortable spot to sleep. That way you can heal faster.”

I looked down, unsure how to argue that with her and even Jean was at a loss for words.

“You two can sort it out, but I’m going to bed now,” Krista said, stifling another yawn. “Good night, Marco.” And with that, she gave a curt nod to Jean and then crossed the room to her bed. 

I felt awkward without Krista being the third voice in all of this and Jean breathed out a defeated sigh. 

“She’s right,” Jean murmured. “You need the bed more than I do. It’s all your’s,” he said, gesturing over to the bed. 

“But Jean—”

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s just one night. Tomorrow you’ll have your own and I’ll have mine back. Just don’t do anything, okay?” He winked suggestively at me and then set about making his own bed on the floor beside it.

I let his words sink in and then blushed harshly when I realized what he had meant. I avoided eye contact with him and peeled out of my jeans in a flustered manner before slipping into the bed.

“Good night, Marco,” Jean’s sing song voice came from the floor beside the bed as he put the finishing touches on his. 

I grumbled and turned over onto my good shoulder, squishing myself against the wall as far away from him as possible. I heard him lightly laugh, and then he snapped the light off and all went silent. Minutes later, the room was alive with nothing but the dull hum of Jean’s quiet snoring. 

I snuggled deeper into the blankets and pulled Jean’s shirt closer up to my nose. I inhaled the soothing smoky scent and let that alone lull me into the most peaceful sleep that I had had in weeks.

Tomorrow, my life at the academy would truly begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was probably the longest chapter I have ever written. Thank you so much to everyone who has given me positive feedback-you guys are amazing. c:


	4. It's All in The Fine Print

When I awoke the next morning, it felt as though I had been asleep for a week. I felt refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to get up and go, but the warmth that was enveloping me persuaded me to stay in bed for just a little while longer, despite the numerous things I knew I had to do today.

I snuggled deeper into the comforter’s warm depths and wiggled around to get comfortable, but as I did, my butt grazed against something that I definitely knew wasn’t the wall. 

My eyes shot open and I became very aware of everything around me, including the strong arm that was snaked around my chest and the light exhales feathering against my neck. I was close enough to the edge of the bed that I could see that Jean had abandoned his make-shift one on the ground, and I could only assume that it was him who was beside me now clutching me to his chest. 

My eyes fluttered closed for a moment in contentment—it had been so long since I had felt someone hold me like this and at the same time feel safe. But just before I could get comfortable and drift back off to dream land, Jean moaned and pushed in closer to me. It wasn’t until I felt something rather hard against my tail bone that my body burned up as though it had been torched. I squirmed uncomfortably and tried to get away, but whenever I moved even the slightest bit away, Jean’s grip would tighten around me and he would let out an unconscious moan of protest.

I sucked in my breath in hopes that that would help me get away silently and slipped Jean’s arm off of me slowly until I could get out of the bed. Jean moaned again and I felt his fingers brush my arm, but he didn’t wake up. Mission accomplished.

I let out the breath that I had been holding in and glanced back to look at Jean. He was splayed out on the mattress, one leg taking up half the bed while the other one was awkwardly twisted in such a way that I wondered how he could actually be comfy. With me gone from the bed now, Jean had taken the pillow that I had been using throughout the night and was clutching it to his chest. I couldn’t help but smile. 

I located my pants and pulled those on while shifting my gaze over to Krista’s bed. It was empty as I had expected and neatly made; her pyjamas were folded into a pile at the end of it and not a decorative pillow was out of place. I was slightly disappointed that she wasn’t there though—it would have been nice to have someone accompany me to the Registrar’s Office, and I didn’t have all day to wait for Jean to wake up. At least this way he would be even more surprised by my decision to join the academy.

Yeah, you heard me right. After a night of thinking it over and weighing the pros and cons, I realized that I had much more of a future here than I would back in what Jean had called the “real world”. It was scary to think about, but I needed a fresh start in a new place where no one knew me. It would definitely save me the trouble of trying to find a new place to live when the Academy already had places for me to stay. Maybe everything that had happened to me in the past wasn’t so bad after all.

Although I was feeling increasingly nervous about doing this, with one final look at Jean, I left the room as silently as I could and backtracked my way back to the elevator, making sure to try and avoid everyone on the way there if I happened to run into anyone on my way out. It would be really awkward to try and explain who I was and why I was in the Flare Building looking like only God knows what. What kind of extinct creature I looked like in the morning changed on a day to day basis. Early morning bed head before a shower was never a pretty sight and it was too early in the morning make up some kind of asinine story to get myself out of trouble.

The elevator dinged and I entered, thanking all the entities out there for making the elevator unoccupied. I made my way down the levels until I got to the main level and exited the Flare Building. The campus was strangely deserted for it being a weekday, but it could have been that everyone was just in class…at the same time. 

I scaled the numerous steps that led up to the main building, hoping that that was where I was supposed to go. Jean hadn’t exactly given me a grand tour; he had just taken me out of bounds and almost got us caught by “them”, whoever “they” were.

I focused my attention up to the academy. Having only a slight glimpse of it the day before, I was blown away at what it looked like now that I was up close and personal with it.

The exterior of the Academy was impossibly tall and white with floor to ceiling windows and far more modern and futuristic than anything that I had ever seen back at home. Atop the roof, if I squinted hard enough, I could see what looked like greenhouses flanked by solar panels. Huh, so not only did the place look extravagant, but it was also environmentally friendly. Who would have thought?

As I took a step past the automatic glass sliding doors, a rush of warm air greeted me. I was even more amazed by the architecture and design on the interior. Vines of ivy snaked up the thick supporting beams and stretched up father than I could make out. Instead of plain walls, or ones that were adorned with traditional paintings, thin sheets of water trickled down into a basin of water, then went back up through a clear pump so that the water was constantly being recycled. Elevators that were flanked by two glass panels containing flames—most likely fake, I assumed—were numerous in number along the main floor and packed with students on their way to classes. Taking a glance upwards, it looked as though there were multiple floors and I couldn’t see the top floor no matter how hard I squinted. All in all, it looked a lot more like a fancy shopping mall rather than a boarding school.

“Hey, are you lost?” An abrupt female voice and a tap on my shoulder made me yelp in surprise and I turned around to meet a girl—probably around sixteen—with long brown hair staring back at me with a french fry dangling out the side of her mouth. She giggled at my reaction and crunched it up, immediately popping another one into her mouth. “Oops, sorry,” she apologized.

“It’s okay,” I reassured her with a smile. “It’s my first day at the academy so I’m just looking around right now. Pretty cool here, huh?”

The girl’s honey brown eyes widened and sparkled with excitement. “It’s your first day here too?!” she squealed and launched herself at me in a hug. “Horray! I was afraid that I was going to be the only one!” She beamed up at me with a pearly white grin. “Have you registered yet? What building are you in?”

“I don’t know yet,” I admitted with a sheepish laugh. “I just got here so I haven’t registered yet. Where do I do that?” I loosened her grip on me and I swore at that moment that her eyes were going to pop right out of her skull.

“You have to get registered if you want to be in the ceremony today!” the French fry girl cried and grabbed my hand, taking off down the main hall and dragging me behind her before I had time to object. I swear, she was almost as bad as Connie. It had to be some sort of sixteen year old thing.

We probably ran no more than twenty feet before she halted abruptly in front of a large oak door and I nearly crashed into her, my sneakers squeaking on the ceramic tile.

“We’re here!” she exclaimed and gestured towards the room. On a plaque right in front of me at eye level, the words read: “D. Pixis—Registrar’s Office” followed by a piece of paper attached underneath reading: “New applicants must apply inside before November 30th at 12:00pm. Initiation ceremony begins promptly at 1:00pm. No late entire accepted.” The paper was the same material and condition as the letter that I had received in the mail. Whomever sent me that invitation was behind this door and I was about to meet ‘Anonymous’ or rather D. Pixis.

I reached for the handle, but before I even touched it, I was stopped short from a low moan coming from the girl.

“Oh no…” she spoke up and her tone caused me some alarm.

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked, flinching away from the door handle as though it had burned me. I glanced over at the replica of Big Ben that stood in the middle of the grand room and it only read 9:08am. It wasn’t that time that was an issue, so what was it?

“In order to register, you need your Recruiter to be present to prove that you’re legit,” the girl explained. “Otherwise you won’t be able to enroll at the Academy.” She sniffed as though she were upset and her voice cracked. “I’m so sorry, I forgot about that. I’m so stupid,” she chastised herself and began to rapidly eat the french fries. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s not your fault,” I said softly, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Her face was downcast, her eyes hiding underneath her brown bangs and she refused to look at me. “Really, it’s okay. I can go and get my Recruiter from his room.”

The girl stopped chewing her fries and looked up at me, her eyebrows furrowed in a frown. “How do you know he’s in his room?” she asked.

I froze and my mind went blank, but before I could make up an excuse, a familiar voice cut through and saved me.

“Did someone say they needed a Recruiter?” the familiar purr sounded behind me.

I turned my head and my blood ran cold as I recognized the childish face with close cropped hair and molten yellow eyes.

“Connie!” I exclaimed in surprise, stepping in front of the girl in fear that he would lash out at me again.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” Connie crowed, a glimmer of mischief sparkling off his yellow eyes. “Hey, Marco—long time, no see, eh? I’ve been looking for you.”

“Look, if this is about—” I began to panic again.

“Dude, chill out!” Connie laughed, raising his hands in defence. “I’m not going to hurt you. You’re at the academy now; there’s no need for me to lay a hand on you anymore. Oh, and uh, sorry about your, y’know, back and everything. It was an honest mistake, really—I wasn’t even trying to hit you. It just sort of happened. I hope there’s no hard feelings or anything.” Connie stuck his hands out with a toothy grin. “What do you say? Friends?”

I found it hard to believe that he hadn’t meant to hurt me and I didn’t trust him one bit, but with him being my only ticket into the Academy without having to sneak off again, I had no other choice but to trust him. I extended my hand and firmly grasped Connie’s, giving it a curt but firm shake.

“No hard feelings,” I gritted through my teeth, mustering up a smile.

“Great!” Connie grinned and then his eyes narrowed playfully as he gave me a once over. “Say, isn’t that, um… Isn’t that Jean’s shirt?” he poked at me and winked.

I turned beet red and opened my mouth to object, but Connie’s focus had already gone elsewhere as French fry girl accidentally choked on her mouthful of fries.

“Hello, and who do we have here?” he purred, mimicking the tone he had first used when I had met him.

The girl coughed a few times to clear her throat and with a flushed face and watery eyes managed to choke out: “Sasha.”

Connie grinned from ear to ear and pulled a water bottle out from the side of his backpack. “Here, this ought do the trick,” he said.

Sasha took the water bottle gratefully and nearly drained the whole thing in a matter of seconds. “Thanks,” she said breathlessly, and then smiled. “It’s Connie, right?”

As she spoke his name, Connie’s grin grew even bigger and he nodded excitedly. I swear you could see the sparks fly between the two of them. They continued on talking and I took a look at the Academy around me, feeling more and more like the third wheel as their conversation got more flirty.

Before things got too cute, I cleared my throat and the two broke their gaze from one another.

“Sorry,” I murmured, letting out a sheepish laugh. “Um, Connie, is it okay if we head on in now, please?”

Connie sighed deeply, and turned his attention back to Sasha. “Duty calls, but if you like,, I’ll find you later for coffee and a grand tour of the Academy if your Recruiter is alright with me doing that. How does that sound?”

Sasha’s cheeks turned a shade darker and I swore this girl was in a constant state of blushing. “Sweet! Sounds like a plan. Will I see you at the entrance ceremony?” she asked hopefully.

Connie winked flirtatiously at her and I had to look away. “I’ll be in the front row,” he purred. “Look for me, okay?”

Sasha crunched on a french fry happily. “I will! Bye, Marco!” Then she laughed and waved her fingers at Connie. “Bye, Connie, I’ll see you later!” 

“Bye!” Connie said with a laugh, and then with another munch of a french fry and a skip in her step, Sasha disappeared down a corridor. Once she was gone, Connie turned to look at me and a sour look crossed his face.  
“What?” I asked defensively.

“You’re such a buzzkill, man. I was there working my charm and you had to go and ruin it,” Connie said with a slight pout.

I sighed, but didn’t want to get into it with him. “You didn’t have to offer to help me get registered,” I pointed out.

“If you waited all day for your boyfriend to come down and help you out, you would miss the entrance ceremony and get kicked out,” Connie said with a snicker.

“Jean isn’t my boyfriend,” I hissed under my breath, feeling my ears burn in the beginnings of a blush.

Connie took another look at Jean’s shirt and pulled at the sleeve. “Right,” he said disbelievingly and snapped it back onto my arm before opening the large oak door.

I drew in a deep breath to make the blush go away and followed him into the office. Compared to the rest of the Academy, this room was miniscule, but nevertheless just as extravagantly decorated. Fountains, plants, and lava lamps littered the room and in the middle of it all was a large oak desk adorned with ivy. A man perched on the large leather chair behind it, hunched over some paperwork, but his head twitched upward when he heard the door open and he stood up with a smile.

“Connie! You’re back, and I see you brought our new Recruit home. I hope you didn’t have too much trouble,” he said, giving me a once over. 

His voice made me cringe as he sounded like my sweet old Grandma, God rest her soul, swallowed a mouthful a rusty nails. The man, I’m guessing who was D. Pixis, was tall and thin with tiny eyes and a mustache that resembled the man on the Pringles chips can.  
“Not at all, Pixis!” Connie crowed, giving me a slap on the shoulder as though we were buddies. “No trouble at all, right chum?”

I let out a little yelp of pain as Connie hit my injured shoulder and he recoiled with a suspicious glare—he knew he wasn’t responsible for that injury.

“Nope, no trouble at all,” I rasped.

Pixis’ features softened with sympathy. “Little beat up, are we? No worries about that; the Academy will fix you right up after the ceremony this afternoon,” he croaked. “Come, come, sit down,” he said, beckoning to the two chairs conveniently placed before the desk. 

Connie and I took a seat in front of the desk while Pixis rummaged through a file cabinet for his papers.

“What was your name again, freckles?” he asked me as he flipped through the folders.

“Marco,” I croaked and coughed once to clear my throat. “Marco Bodt.”

“Bodt, Bodt…” Pixis murmured to himself. “Aha, there you are!” He swiped the booklet from the folder and returned to the desk and set it front of me with a fancy fountain pen.

“Now, all you need to do is fill out the first page,” he explained as he too took a seat. “And Connie, I’ll make sure that you are rewarded for your success.”

“Thanks a bunch, Pixis. You’re the bomb,” Connie said with a click of his tongue.

Pixis let out a noise similar to a neigh of a dying horse. “Oh, you kids make me feel so young. Oh, and don’t forget to initial the bottom as well Connie where it says ‘Recruiter signature’,” he reminded him.

“Will do.”

I rolled my eyes and focused my attention to the booklet in front of me. It asked the basic questions—name, preferred name, age, sex, birthday—and some more longer ones such as when did I start having dreams about the academy, what happened in those dreams, who was there, etc. 

I answered and described them as best as I could, leaving out little tidbits that I knew Jean would want me not to mention such as the girl…or whatever she was. I got so into it that I forgot I only had to do the first page, but when I tried to flip the page, Pixis swiped the booklet from underneath me.

“Just the first page will be fine,” he reminded me gently and gave it to Connie as well as the pen. “Your signature, too.”

“You got it,” Connie said and scribbled something so large and illegible in the space that I wondered how that was even considered a signature.

“Perfect,” Pixis murmured and gave me a second sheet. “The rest of this booklet is for the Academy to fill out during your stay, but this one right here is just a release form that states that the Academy is not responsible for any harm that may come across you during your stay here. Legal reasons, I’m sure you understand.”

I took the pen back from Connie and immediately signed the bottom of the form. All release forms were the same—I had seen them all before.

Pixis’ eyes flashed an iridescent yellow for a brief second when he scanned the papers. “Perfect,” he repeated and stood up to place them back in the filing cabinet, locking it with a key that was hung around his neck. “Okay, you’re all set. I’ll register you in the system later on, but in the meantime you can go and get yourself settled and cleaned up before the welcoming ceremony.” He came back and opened another drawer on the desk. “Here’s your room key—you’ll be in room 305 in the Aqua building.”

“Thank you so much,” I said and took the key from him, shoving it in my jean pocket.

“You’re very welcome, Mr. Bodt, and welcome to the Academy. Connie, drop by later today after the ceremony and I will give you your reward then.”

“You’ll be sure to see me then,” Connie said and got up from his chair with me following suit.  
Pixis smiled and waved as we turned to leave the office. “Bye.”

I turned my head and gave him a feeble smile and wave and then closed the door behind me. Connie let out a heavy sigh of relief.

“Well thank God that’s over,” he said, stretching his limbs with little grunts of effort. 

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad,” I scoffed and wiggled my fingers to get rid of the writing cramp. 

“Oh, psh, the meeting with Pixis wasn’t what I was talking about. Now that you’re enrolled, you’re not my responsibility any more. I am free of my Recruiter duties until I get a new mission when the next batch of Recruits are ready to be collected.”

“What do you mean, new batch?” I asked curiously.

“We don’t just bring people into the Academy whenever we feel like it,” Connie said seriously, looking at me as though I were stupid. “There’s a cut off date and that’s at the end of every semester. The last day is today before noon. After that, no more people are allowed into the Academy. Do you know how confusing it would be bringing people in halfway through the semester? The poor instructors would go nuts and they’re all about business here. They have no time to go over the same thing twice. Fall behind in any of your classes here, and you’re screwed. That’s why this place is for the elite—we don’t just bring in anybody— we only have the best of the best.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said and fumbled with my key in my pocket, eager to get to my room and settle in.

Connie stretched his arms above his head and let out a sigh. “Well, I’ll let you get set up then before the ceremony. It’s been fun, dude, but you’re on your own now until you get your mentor at the ceremony. If you have any more questions, ask your boyfriend. I’m sure he would love to help you,” Connie said with a laugh, back to his usual childish attitude.

“Jean isn’t my—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, he’s ‘not your boyfriend’,” he mocked. “Keep telling yourself that, Marco. Now if you’ll excuse me, I believe I have a date with a certain cutie.” And then with a “boop” to my nose like he had done when we first met, Connie scampered off with a laugh.

I felt the back of my neck prickle with discomfort. I wasn’t even remotely interested in Jean. At least…I didn’t think I was? I was interested in being his friend and getting to know him, but if things ended up being more than that… then I don’t think I would mind. There would probably be no time for a relationship though with all the coursework that would be going on. Besides, Jean probably wasn’t even interested in me.

I sighed at how badly I was letting Connie get to me. Why was this bothering me so much? I shook it off and exited the main building, making my way down to the Aqua building—the one with the water droplet, I assumed—but not before I bumped into a familiar face who was coming up the stairs slowly.

“Krista, hey!” I called out cheerfully and the gentle girl smiled when she saw me.

“Hello, Marco,” she greeted me. “It’s good to see you again. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up—I had to head over to the hospital wing early this morning. Are you all settled?”

I pulled my room key out from my pocket and dangled it cheerfully off my fingers. “I just got my room key and I’m all registered. I’m just off to my room to get cleaned up.”

“That’s nice. I know your roommate; you’re going to like her,” Krista said genuinely, taking note of the number of the room printed on my key. “How are you feeling this morning? Any better? I hope you had breakfast this morning so you can take your medication.”

I laughed as she fussed over me. “Don’t worry, I will. I am a little sore this morning, though,” I admitted, rotating my shoulder that Connie had aggravated. “Pixis said that they would fix me up in the hospital wing after the entrance ceremony, though.”

“That’s right. You have to go through a physical afterwards before you go to the classes. I’m actually just headed on my way there now. I’ll be one of the main nurses on duty so I’ll see you down there when you come in. I really do have to hurry though—there is lots of preparation to do.”

“No worries, you go ahead, I’ll see you after the ceremony,” I said with a gentle smile. I took note of Krista’s state—she seemed more sluggish and fragile than usual today, but I didn’t say anything despite the pain that I could clearly see in her light blue eyes.

“Okay, take care, Marco,” Krista murmured softly and with a smile, she continued up the steps.

I watched her go, suddenly wishing I had asked what was wrong, but knowing Krista, she would probably just say nothing or that she was tired and that would be the end of that conversation. I stuck around and made sure she got to the top okay, and only when she was out of sight did continue making my way down to the Aqua building.

I had my new roommate to meet.


End file.
